Policy-based printing system and methods using a mobile device

Abstract

A policy-based printing system is implemented to allow access to a private domain to print using a public domain. The private domain includes private servers that store documents. The public domain includes servers and a printing device. A public policy server uses a domain list and a protocol connection with a private authentication server to validate a user and identify which private domain to access. The public policy server receives requests from the printing device to process a print job of a document in the private domain. A mobile device is used to coordinate the retrieval and printing of the document using an application. A kiosk may be used to send the document to the printing device from the mobile device.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A policy-based printing method comprising:
 authenticating a user of a mobile application on a mobile device to send a request to a private server in a private domain using a public server in a public domain, wherein the mobile device is connected to the public server in the public domain; 
 selecting a document stored on the private server using the mobile application; 
 sending the request to print the document from the mobile application to the private server using the public server; 
 applying a policy by the private server to determine whether the request is acceptable, wherein the policy corresponds to a user of the mobile device, wherein the policy is stored at the private server; 
 retrieving the document from the private server in the private domain to the public server in the public domain if the request is acceptable; 
 downloading the document to a mobile device from the public server in the public domain, wherein the mobile application executes on the mobile device; 
 sending the document to a printing device within the public domain from the mobile device; and 
 printing the document at the printing device. 
 
     
     
       2. The policy-based printing method of  claim 1 , further comprising connecting to the printing device from the mobile device after downloading the document. 
     
     
       3. The policy-based printing method of  claim 1 , wherein the sending the document includes sending the document to a kiosk connected to the printing device. 
     
     
       4. The policy-based printing method of  claim 3 , further comprising indicating that the document is to be printed using the kiosk and sending the document to the kiosk from the mobile device. 
     
     
       5. The policy-based printing method of  claim 4 , further comprising sending the document from the kiosk to the printing device. 
     
     
       6. The policy-based printing method of  claim 1 , wherein the authenticating includes storing an authentication token at the mobile device. 
     
     
       7. The policy-based printing method of  claim 6 , further comprising providing the authentication token to the private server to authenticate the user. 
     
     
       8. The policy-based printing method of  claim 1 , wherein the selecting includes selecting the document from a list of documents stored on the private server using the mobile application.